Vice President Biden's Son Hospitalized; Father and Son in Familiar Situation

Fox News has just gotten word that Vice President Biden's son, Beau, had an apparent mild stroke but is expected to make a full recovery.

Beau, Delaware's attorney general, arrived at the hospital this morning.

"He is alert and awake, and communicating with his parents and his wife, who are with him," the vice president's office said in a statement.

Beau Biden returned some six months ago from his service as a captain in Iraq for the Army National Guard.

The elder Biden and his wife, Dr. Jill Biden, are fiercely proud of their son. At a Thanksgiving dinner that the Bidens hosted last year for military service members and their families, Jill Biden said the two were "particularly thankful" that they had their son Beau home from his service. "Our hearts felt heavy last year [when Beau was in Iraq]", she said.

The father-son bond between Beau and Joe was crystal clear at the 2008 Democratic Convention, "Beau, I love you," then-Senator Joe Biden beamed. "I'm so proud of you. I'm so proud of the son you've become; I'm so proud of the father you are."

"The truth is, he almost wasn't a senator at all," Beau told the crowd when he took the same stage.

"In 1972, shortly after his improbable victory, but before he took the oath of office, my father went to Washington to look at his new office space," Beau said as he recalled the well-known family tragedy.

"My mom took us to go buy a Christmas tree. On the way home, we were in an automobile accident. My mom, Neilia, and sister, Naomi, were killed. My brother, Hunter, and I were seriously injured and hospitalized for weeks. I was just short of 4 years old. One of my earliest memories was being in that hospital, Dad always at our side. We, not the Senate, were all he cared about."

Beau Biden passed up the opportunity fill that very Senate seat in 2008 when his dad ascended to the White House. The younger Biden chose instead to remain Delaware's attorney general; a job he's had since 2007.

Beau also did a stint at the Justice Department that included work on issues such as rebuilding post-war Kosovo and preventing gun violence. He was also a federal prosecutor in the US Attorney's office in Philadelphia and in private practice.

This morning, the vice president did remote TV interviews from Wilmington, as well as robo calls and a radio interview on behalf of Pennsylvania Senator Arlen Specter's campaign. It's not clear when his son fell ill.

The vice president had been scheduled to join the president in a series of meetings at the White House today, including those with the Secretaries of State and Defense. He chose to remain in Delaware with his son.

"Many of you know him as a distinguished and accomplished senator," Bo said in that convention speech. "I know him as an incredible father...who, after returning from some war-torn region of the world, would tiptoe into our room and kiss us goodnight; who turns down some fancy cocktail party in Washington so he won't miss my daughter Natalie's birthday party."

Today, Joe and Beau Biden come full circle. Joe Biden again finds himself at his son's side in a hospital room in Delaware.